The landscape of new and experimental music in Canada has been greatly influenced by the creative individuals who have taught and studied at the UVic School of Music. From February 2-4, this dynamic community spanning five decades — from former faculty to current students — will converge for a New Music & Digital Media Festival as part of the School’s ongoing 50th anniversary season.

It's said nothing succeeds like success, which is an aphorism well-appreciated in the offices of The Malahat Review. Currently celebrating both its 50th anniversary and 200th issue, UVic’s venerable and revered literary journal has served as a springboard for some of...

Feeling tired? Got the sniffles? Worried about new classes? Start the semester off with a healthy sense of well-being at our Fine Arts Wellness Day! Running 11am – 2pm on Wednesday, January 17, in the lobby of the Fine Arts building, students can shuffle off their January blahs with a variety of special events.

Internationally acclaimed artist and new Visual Arts professor Kelly Richardson will be one of five digital media artists featured in the upcoming XL-Outer Worlds large-format film project, which will be shooting at Port Renfrew’s Avatar Grove / T’l’oqwxwat in summer...

From large lectures and working with TAs to a lack of one-on-one time with professors, there’s no question first-year classes can seem overwhelming to students. But the Department of Art History & Visual Studies is looking to broaden first-year opportunities with both...

What else happened in Fine Arts in 2017? More than we can mention in one blog post, so here's part two of our top-10 stories of the year. International attention Considering we're based on an island at the edge of the continent, it's surprising how much international...

There’s no easier measure of just how creative the activity is here in the Faculty of Fine Arts than by looking back at what happened over the previous year. From classes and guest lecturers to concerts, exhibits, plays, readings, seminars and our core research and...

Celebrated School of Music alumnus Rodney Sharman was announced as the recipient of the $50,000 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts on November 20. Awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Walter Carsen Prize recognizes the highest level...

When Maestro Timothy Vernon raises his baton at the School of Music’s 50th Anniversary Gala concert on December 2, it won’t simply be in recognition of the Honorary Doctor of Music he received at spring convocation. Instead, his performance with the UVic Chorus and...

The reviews are in for Phoenix Theatre's mainstage production of The Madwoman of Chaillot, and audiences are enjoying its "visual delights and thought-provoking observations," as local arts writer Janis La Couvée writes in this review, which also highlighted the work...

While university may be the logical choice for many high school students, not everyone finds their path right after graduation: many opt to spend some time working or traveling before deciding on a specific field of study. Brandon Poole made just such a choice,...

Art is often quite prescient. Be it science fiction or political satire, a tasty analogy or handy metaphor can be a welcome tool for many artists in an effort to comment on current happenings. But what happens when, 70 years later, a far-fetched idea becomes closer to reality than the original event?

Sometimes the most inspiring work occurs while students are still enrolled in university. Consider MFA Connect, an inter-institutional visual arts exhibit that literally connects UVic Visual Arts MFA candidates with fellow graduate students at UBC Okanagan. Organized...

For the past 10 years, students in UVic’s Department of Writing have benefited by learning from veteran journalists and authors, thanks to the Harvey Stevenson Southam Lecturer in Journalism and Nonfiction. Named for UVic alumnus Harvey Southam — who, before his...

It has been a busy couple of years for Rande Cook. Beyond his duties as chief of Vancouver Island’s ’Namgis Nation and his commitments as an in-demand contemporary artist with an international practice, Cook just completed two back-to-back terms as the Audain Professor of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest with the Visual Arts department.

The UVic Orchestra honours the extraordinary Canadian mezzo-soprano Maureen Forrester in a concert on October 27 in UVic's Farquhar Auditorium. Often described as one of the world's leading contraltos, Forrester was an artist who not only achieved great acclaim but...

Distinguished poet and respected Department of Writing professor Tim Lilburn has become the first Canadian to receive the European Medal of Poetry and Art. Commonly referred to as the “Homer Medal,” Lilburn was presented with the 2017 prize by visiting Beijing poet...

Each fall, Phoenix Theatre's Spotlight on Alumni offers the chance for returning alumni to share their experiences with both audiences and current students alike. This year's spotlight features a pair of performers who are currently living their dreams, every day, as...

Music and food have a way of bringing people together — colleagues, friends, communities — and the Faculty Chamber Music concert and dinner on October 14 is no exception. Faculty and alumni will join on stage with some special guests for a 50th anniversary celebratory...

Staying informed is an important part of staying healthy — a fact the Lafayette String Quartet well knows. For the past 12 years, these artists-in-residence and School of Music professors have hosted their annual free Health Awareness Forum, with topics ranging from...

Whether they realize it or not, generations of graduating UVic students have been touched by the music of Dr. Erich Schwandt. Professor Emeritus of Musicology in the School of Music, Dr. Schwandt passed away in Victoria on August 2. A native of California, he attended...

The Department of Theatre is dipping into the world of film for a special screening of Robin & Mark & Richard III. Better still, the filmmakers — Canadian theatrical legends themselves — will be on hand for an exclusive session only for Fine Arts students and faculty....

Contemporary artist and newly retired Visual Arts professor Sandra Meigs has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC)—Canada’s highest academic honour.

The title has been bestowed on only 2,000 Canadians in the 134-year history of the RSC, and has just one criterion: excellence. The peer-elected fellows of the society are chosen for making “remarkable contributions” in the arts, humanities and sciences, and Canadian public life.

If you're new to Fine Arts, we'd just like to offer you a big welcome — as well as a hearty "welcome back" to all our returning students! We/re happy to have you join our vibrant student community here in Fine Arts. But we appreciate that first year can be a difficult...

It's not often you find an off-campus arts event that's almost exclusively organized by Fine Arts alumni and students, but that's exactly what you'll find when you peak behind the curtain at 2017's Integrate Arts Festival. Originally dubbed the Off-The-Grid Art Crawl,...

No question, the annual Fringe Fest is one of Victoria's best-loved festivals of any kind. Now in its 31st year, the Victoria Fringe Festival offers 330 performances of 58 shows by 350 artists in nearly a dozen venues around town — as well as a number of free...

It’s been a busy summer for Visual Arts faculty, students and alumni — thanks to a number of new projects, installations and exhibits happening locally, nationally and internationally. Here’s a quick round-up:

2017 marks the 150th anniversary of celebrated US architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth. It is also the year UVic will return seven Wright-designed stained glass windows to their original setting in Buffalo, New York.

UVic acquired the windows only five years after the university was founded and nearly 10 years after the death of Wright, and has made good use of them as a highlight of our significant arts-and-crafts collection.